We have 50 (!) Advance Reading Copies of Ashley Poston’s Geekerella to give away to 50 Riot readers.
Here’s what it’s about:
Cinderella goes to the con in this fandom-fueled twist on the classic fairy tale. Part romance, part love letter to nerd culture, and all totally adorbs, Geekerella is a fairy tale for anyone who believes in the magic of fandom.
Go here to enter for a chance to win, or just click the book’s cover image below!
I may not be surrounded by my usual piles of books—currently I’m surrounded by stacks of gifts, gift tags, and countless rolls of wrapping paper that refuse to stop rolling off the table—but I am still 100% about discussing books! So lets get to all the mystery, crime, and murders which I like to believe don’t get solved until we read them.
Norwegian Crime:
I discovered Anne Holt thanks to Rioter Leila Roy’s Queens of Crimes. I’m a big fan of Scandinavian crime novels/Nordic noir because they’re dark and morally complicated, so I had to read Holt. Her Hanne Wilhelmsen series (one of three) is now mostly translated to English. I was reading out of order since they were being translated out of order BUT if you haven’t read the series yet you’re in luck: The Lion’s Mouth (#4), Dead Joker (#5), No Echo (#6), and Beyond the Truth (#7) published in the U.S. this year so you can read the first eight novels in the series in order. If you’re a dabbler or don’t care about order, the novels 1222 and The Lion’s Mouth work as stand-alones.
So. Many. Twists.
I’m not going to say a lot about Federico Axat’s Kill the Next One because I was totally unprepared for all the sharp turns in the novel and I don’t want to take that awesome experience away from other readers. The novel starts with Ted, having been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, about to take his own life, except he’s interrupted by a stranger with a strange proposition who knows way too much about Ted. Ted complies with the stranger’s request and quickly realizes nothing is as it seems. And when I say nothing is at is seems, I mean nothing. You have no idea where this is going after the opening. Enjoy!
Megan Abbott has excellent taste! (Not that it was up for debate.)
Abbott listed her favorite thriller writers in By the Book and having never heard of Steph Cha, I knew I had to read her. In Follow Her Home, Juniper Song, a mid-twenties Korean-American with a fixation for Philip Marlowe, decides to help a close friend who fears his father is having an affair. Song may not actually be a PI but she has many similarities and I think would get listed with the best of the best—terrible smoking habit included. Song is broken from the past, dripping with sarcasm, relentless, and my new favorite main character in a noir series. Speaking of series, I need to go buy Beware Beware and Dead Soon Enough.
Sequels are coming!
A Murder in Time (Kendra Donovan #1) by Julie McElwain: McElwain sprinkles a bit of accidental time travel to place modern day FBI agent Kendra Donovan in a British castle in 1815. Add a serial killer and Donovan’s continual forgetfulness/refusal to oblige with 1800s rules for women, and you have a great feminist mystery. The second in the series, A Twist in Time, is listed as coming April 2017!
A Front Page Affair (Kitty Weeks Mystery #1) by Radha Vatsal: This is perfect for readers who love a mystery but try to avoid graphic violence, especially towards women, and are historical fiction fans. Set in NY at the beginning of World War I, Capability “Kitty” Weeks finds herself trying to solve a murder that occurred during an event she’d attended while working as a reporter for the women’s fashion section of The Sentinel. While she is more than capable of not only solving the crime and being a newspaper reporter, she’s a woman in a time where women aren’t even allowed to vote. The second book in the series, Murder Between the Lines, is listed as coming May 2017!
Adaptation news:
Caleb Carr’s The Alienist began casting for the TNT adaptation.
HBO is done teasing us and finally released the official trailer for Big Little Lies.
Carl Hiaasen’s Basket Case may be coming to Fox.
The first issue has me excited for the series!
Imagine having zero interest in being a princess because you’ve already decided you want to be a detective. Now imagine you have no say in things because you’re only ten. That’s what Max is dealing with in Mega Princess #1 by Kelly Thompson, Brianne Drouhard, M. Victoria Robado. Even after a visit from her fairy godmother, who mints her with some extra princess powers, Max is undeterred from becoming a detective. She even has a sarcastic horse sidekick!
If you’re planning a murder mystery party and are a fan of cutting:
These printable murder mystery photo booth props look awesome. They even seem like fun to wear while playing Clue.
Find yourself with less time than usual during the holiday season?
Read a great mystery short story published in The Atlantic: Reply to a Dead Man by Walter Mosley
Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime feel free to come talk books with me on Litsy, you can find me under Jamie Canaves.
We’re giving away a 12-month Audible membership. Go here to enter!
For book lovers, one of the best parts of the holiday season is having a great excuse to spend time in bookstores. And, for my money at least, there is no better bookstore in the U.S. than Powell’s. Great selection of both used and new books, unrivaled book-related products, a great website for buying and browsing online: Powell’s has it all.
So we are thrilled to have a $100 Powell’s digital gift card to give away to a Book Riot reader, thanks to our friends at Early Bird Books.
Go here to enter the giveaway, or just click on the image below:
While some of our Read Harder Book Groups are taking December off for the holidays, there are still four of them meeting. Join us if you’re nearby; and for everyone else, we’ll hope to see you in January!
Chicago, IL – 12/15
NYC, NY – 12/17
Philadelphia, PA – 12/18
Washington, DC – 12/18
While the last six weeks of the year are notoriously light on amazing new releases, there are still a few. So I have made you a list of notable books out this month. (Because I love you and I want you to read books and be happy!) And you can hear Rebecca and I discuss some of our favorite novels of 2016 on this week’s new episode of the All the Books! We talked about awesome books such as The Underground Railroad, Homegoing, and Sweetgirl.
This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Mother Nile by Warren Adler.
A dazzling triumph from the NYT bestselling author of The War of the Roses – high-caliber historical fiction that plunges readers into a rich, dark world of sex, power, politics, drugs, and Egypt.
A sweeping and ambitious novel spanning across two eras and the city at the center of it all,
Mother Nile is the story of Si, the American-born son of an Irish father and Egyptian mother, who goes on a journey through the winding streets of the City of the Dead in Cairo to solve a half-century-old mystery. When his mother makes an urgent plea on her deathbed, Si knows that he must go to Egypt to uncover the truth about his long-lost half-sister, conceived during his mother’s affair with King Farouk.
Holiday deal alert! Get MOTHER NILE for $2.99 exclusively through Book Riot with this link.
Whatever Happened to Interracial Love?: Stories by Kathleen Collins
The Undoing Project: A Friendship that Changed Our Minds by Michael Lewis
The Ornatrix by Kate Howard
A Woman Looking at Men Looking at Women: Essays on Art, Sex, and the Mind by Siri Histvedt
Show Me a Mountain by Kerry Young
Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness by Peter Godfrey-Smith
Kill the Next One by Federico Axat
Books for Living by Will Schwalbe
The Private Life of Mrs Sharma by Ratika Kapur
Island of the Mad by Laurie Sheck
Spies in Palestine: Love, Betrayal and the Heroic Life of Sarah Aaronsohn by James Srodes
Piano Tide by Kathleen Dean Moore
The Boy Who Escaped Paradise by J. M. Lee (Author), Chi-Young Kim Translator (Translator)
The Hot Topic: A Life-Changing Look at the Change of Life by Christa D’Souza
The Twilight Wife by A.J. Banner
Civilianized: A Young Veteran’s Memoir by Michael Anthony
YAY, BOOKS! That’s it for me today. And if you want to learn more about books (and see lots of pictures of my cats, Millay and Steinbeck), or tell me about books you’re reading, you can find me on Twitter at MissLiberty, on Instagram at FranzenComesAlive, or Litsy under ‘Liberty’!
Stay rad!
Liberty
Hello nerdfriends and geek pals!
We’re giving away a 12-month Audible membership. Go here to enter.
As promised, I’ve got gift suggestions galore. But so many of you were interested in last time’s link to the Guardian’s Best Of list for 2016 science fiction and fantasy that I decided to include a round-up of a few others! You’ll see some overlap, so here’s a TL;DR list of the most-repeated titles:
Infomocracy, Malka Older
All the Birds in the Sky, Charlie Jane Anders
The Devourers, Indra Das
The Obelisk Gate, NK Jemisin
Ninefox Gambit, Yoon Ha Lee
Death’s End, Cixin Liu
Too Like the Lightning, Ada Palmer
The lists themselves:
– Book Riot’s own Best Of 2016 is here and you can sort by genre.
– The Washington Post‘s Nancy Hightower picked five.
– Barnes & Noble’s list is delightfully long and includes a bonus 12 honorable mentions.
– Omnivoracious picked eight.
– Tor.com asked 11 contributors to pick three each.
– Publishers Weekly picked six.
And now, onto my Gift Guide for Procrastinating Nerds.
Let’s Start With Books
Staff (and personal) favorite Lauren Beukes got stellar new covers for her mind-bending older books, Moxyland and Zoo City. Get both for the dedicated Beukes fan or either to introduce them to the wonders of her imagination!
Price range: less than $20 each
We are happily not short on geeky coloring books. Pick your fandom: Game of Thrones; D&D’s Monsters and Heroes of the Realm; there’s a whole line of Harry Potter ones; the rabbit-hole goes on and on. For a nice pairing and starter-kit, add a set of Pop of Color pencils.
Price range: less than $20 each
For the nerd who has everything OR doesn’t know where to start, I recommend Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016, edited by Karen Joy Fowler and including favorites Sofia Samatar, Kelly Link, Charlie Jane Anders, and Ted Chiang.
Price range: $20ish
For the nerd who loves art, you cannot do better than Shaun Tan’s beautiful and epic The Singing Bones (there’s a great review on Tor.com).
Price range: $20ish
For the classics-inclined geek, these new Penguin Galaxy covers are drool-worthy. They’ve got a cornucopia of standards, including Dune, The Left Hand of Darkness, and The Once and Future King.
Price range: $20ish
This book was all the rage when it came out in hardcover a couple years back (to the point where it was on backorder for actual months), but I bet we don’t all own Philip Pullman’s Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm AND WE SHOULD.
Price range: $20ish in paperback
If you’re looking to introduce someone to NK Jemisin’s work (or help out a completist), the Dreamblood Duology has a lovely new omnibus edition. (Bonus: we’re doing a giveaway of her Broken Earth books right now!)
Price range: $20ish
What about a gift that keeps on giving? Here’s a genre-focused subscription box that’ll send a selection of themed books every other month!
Price range: $30+ per box
How about something for the armchair traveler and those looking for magic in our own world? Let me introduce you to Atlas Obscura.
Price range: $30+
For the Le Guin completist, while we’re all awaiting the illustrated Earthsea: have a beautiful boxed set of her short stories and novellas (which I can verify are well worth owning).
Price range: $50+
If the Penguin Galaxy covers appeal to you but are not quite fancy enough, The Folio Society has you covered (that illustrated Voyage of the Argo, though.)
Price range: $50+
Who doesn’t need a new Star Trek Encyclopedia, I ask you.
Price range: $100+
Now For Some Things Which Are Not Books
For the wickedest witch in your life: a Bellatrix enamel pin.
Price range: less than $20
For the gaming/Adventure Time enthusiast in your life: a BMO Light-Up journal.
Price range: $20ish
For fans of The Martian: a “Science The Shit Out Of It” shirt!
Price range: $20ish
Beam us up, Scotty: an ugly sweater Star Trek-style!
Price range: $40ish
Listen, y’all, I own a cuddly Hulk from this seller and it is the best “late night lying in bed lurking on Tumblr” purchase I have ever made: get your own Nerd Plush.
Price range: $40+
For geek couture: I don’t know what to be more excited about from Elhoffer Designs, the Galactic vest and armwarmers or those Hogwarts sweaters.
Price range: $50+
For those strong in the Force: BB8 now has a Force Band!
Price range: $80 – $200
For the well-heeled gear-head: High-end gear gear.
Price range: $125+
But wait, there’s more! We’ve got a few Book Fetish posts that speak to your needs as well. For example, this one is entirely composed of Game of Thrones lingerie options. And for your comics-loving friends and relatives, a special edition.
Happy holidays, and may the shopping odds be ever in your favor!
Give the book lovers on your holiday shopping list gifts that are 100% awesome, and get them for 20% off, ending today!
T-shirts, tote bags, socks, mugs, you name it! Plus, free shipping on all US orders of $40 or more.
Need the perfect gift for someone on the Extra Nice list? The new Book Mail box is packed with books about books + a variety of rad bookish items. Get one before they’re gone.
Amazon Reveals the Best-Selling New Releases of 2016
The machinery of and inherent biases in the publishing industry and the reading community are never more apparent than in the best-selling new releases list. The recipe for a best-seller is a big name + a hefty marketing budget + a white author. With only one author of color on the general list and zero on the kids/YA list (but plenty of Bill O’Reilly), it’s hard not to worry about the progress we are (or aren’t) making in combating complacency and institutionalized racism in reading.
Virginia School District Pulls Classics
Accomack County Schools in Virginia have pulled To Kill a Mockingbird and Huck Finn from their curriculum after a parent complaint about racial slurs used in the books. The parent’s biracial son told her he had a hard time getting past the slurs in his reading. I really wish parents used these moments as opportunities to discuss history, language, and context with their kids instead of insisting an entire school district be deprived of the opportunity to think critically about a text.
Upcoming Adaptation News
A few exciting adaptation bits of news for you! Elizabeth Banks has optioned Lindy West’s Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman for a TV show. West’s memoir is hilarious and necessary, and I’d love to see it on any screen. Also, Hugh Jackman will have a role in Fox 2000’s upcoming adaptation of Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Alexie himself is adapting the screenplay, which is always a vote of confidence in my book (see what I did there?).
We’re giving away a 12-month Audible membership.
Go here to enter.
Next up in our giveaways of some of our favorite 2016 books: The Fifth Season & The Obelisk Gate, the first two installments of N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth Trilogy.
The Obelisk Gate came out this year, but we didn’t want to start you in the middle of the series, so we’re giving three Book Riot readers both books in the series (the final installment, The Stone Sky, is coming out in late 2017).
Three winners will be drawn randomly from the entrants and will then be emailed for their physical mailing address. The giveaway is open to U.S. and Canada and entries will be accepted until December 17th at midnight eastern.
Ready? Go here to enter, or just click the image below:
